Cresceluna Arc
...They're flying. Carrying Bromine Halogen and Iodine, locked up in a Kairoseki cage with an iron handle, flying. In search of land. At last, after three hours of painful flying, they arrived. "Cresceluna," a sign post read, "The island of the crescent moon." "Hah... Let's... go rent a room," suggested Alpha. They entered the nearest hotel. Of course, they were questioned—not once, not twice, but many. About why the hell that damned large cage was in the middle of the lobby. "This? This is..." said Kazar, "Just take it to the police; we just arrested these assholes." Anyhow, they got the keys. 1305 the key read; god dammit Alpha's face read. They had to walk up to the thirteenth floor. To make a long story short, they got up there. But once they did so, they realized—it was too cold for them to wear their normal clothes. It was, after all, a winter island. So they opened the window. And, like a hawk and a cloud, they flew out. Once they hit the ground they sprinted to the nearest store. They bought two padded coats and two pairs of snow boots, amassing a total of 13,000. Quite quick they were to change. To pay. To run out. And to knock down a tall, thin, man. "Bastard," said the man. With his palm he pushed up his broken glasses, which had a crack that seemed to glint like a crescent moon. And he walked into the store. Alpha was puzzled by a familiar aura... Night fell upon the island. The stars glinted. The crescent shone. All seemed quiet—ominously, mysteriously quiet. But of course, there were reasons—not a soul, not a light, not awake. The streets were empty. The lights were out. The people were sleeping. "Alpha," asked Kazar. "Oh. I get it." said Alpha, briefly stopping, "You know Axe Hand?" "You mean Möwe? Yeah. Why?" questioned Kazar. "He arrested Kuro. And got him executed. But," replied Alpha, "At the store..." Screenshot of the streets. Claw marks everywhere. Some deeply engraved, some merely scratched. And a dark figure, swiftly sprinting through. He seemed to vigorously slash apart anything in his sight, whether it be a street lamp, a building, or even an iron gate of a house. The next morning. Alpha and Kazar awoke to the commotion of the villagers. Inquiring about the mysterious engravings, the villagers crowded. Alpha saw these marks; he sprinted away. Kazar had nothing to do now. Bored, he walked into the hospital across the street. To treat his burns, at least. There he met the doctor—Ned Spade—a man of his height, with a similar fro. Wow. Instantly a conversation was struck between the two. Kazar, being the grandson of the town elder of Mossball, was quite shocked to know that Ned was the grandson of the town elder of Cresceluna. On the other hand, Ned, who had a spiky fro, was quite shocked to see that Kazar had a curly fro. And for a while, the conversation kept itself running. "Hey," started Ned, "You know about that strange black guy here?" "Kuro?" replied Kazar, "Yeah. Our leader just took off to arrest him. Why?" "Just. Heard there were some claw marks this morning..." said Ned. "That's him," confirmed Kazar. Back to Alpha. He searched for the black man, running around the island. But with no luck he found no answer. Tired and confused, he sat on a boulder. And he began thinking. About how the Marines could be so easily fooled that Kuro was dead. Suddenly, from behind, a hard kick was dealt. It was Kuro. Smiling slyly at Alpha. Laughing sarcastically. Standing confidently. "You thought I was dead, eh?" said Kuro, "Well, you're wrong. You Marines are all wrong!!" Alpha, wounded, got back up. He glared at the black man. He tried to retaliate, to actually do something. But he was effortlessly pushed back down by the pirate captain. "Don't get me wrong," continued the pirate, "I tried to live a new life here. It was the crescent moon...!!" And with that he kicked Alpha away, into a building. Kuro's grin faded away. And his eyes—they turned violent red, filled with the bloodlust of his former self. "And since you have confirmed my presence... I shall send you to the nexus." Of course, Alpha wasn't the guy to just sit around being beaten up by someone, much less a pirate. He got up, and transformed. "Aerial Ace." An old man walked in. He introduced himself as the grandfather of Ned—the town elder of Cresceluna. Then he asked who Kazar was; Ned replied that he had just met him a while ago, but also noted a familiar aura. "Ah, the days have gone by so quickly..." said the elder, "Eleven years ago..." "Wait, I met Kazar/Ned eleven years ago?!" exclaimed the two. "Clang!" A clash bewteen two sharp attacks—Alpha's aerial swipe and Kuro's grounded slash. For a while the wings and blades were locked together, after which the two were thrown back. "Hah...hah... I won't...lose!!" said Alpha. "Heh...heh... Cut your...crap!!" replied Kuro. Another clash, this time between two destructive kicks—Alpha's roundhouse kick and Kuro's downward axe. But this time, a lock-together didn't occur. And Kuro was laughing. He forcefully pinned Alpha's foot to the ground, allowing himself to get punched. In the stomach—to which he found himself flying backwards. When he got up, he started swaying. Back and forth, back and forth... "Shakushi..." The two were paralyzed for quite a while, unable to speak of the news that were presented to them. Minutes passed... "H-haha...." weakly laughed Kazar. "W-whoa..." faintly commented Ned. The two just stared blankly at the elder. And the elder just smiled back. Amidst the awkward situation, a commotion occurred outside. "Hey!! What are you guys doing?!" exclaimed a man who barged in, "There's a fight going on in the town outskirts! You've got to see it!!" "Swish!" An ominous cloud of purple appeared at the spot where the black cat once stood. And around the battlefield appeared various claw marks of differing depths. This was the phenomenon that happened the day before... Alpha was cut. Once, twice, thrice; an arm, a leg, and the stomach. But he did not retaliate recklessly; he closed his eyes. He entered a calm pool of the mind. "Crush Claw!!" Thrust, punch, shred. Kuro's face was punched. Wait; rather, his face was shredded. Knocked down. But not out. And pissed off as hell. He got back up. And swaying once more he walked towards Alpha. Kuro laughed. He laughed with sarcasm, with rage, and of vengeance. Then, as the dramatic tension of the moment peaked to its climax... The black cat stabbed Alpha. Right in the celiac plexus. Of course, he did not fall down. He did not react. He did not utter a word. Simply, just too simply, he slammed his two fists together; thereby he crushed Kuro's head. "Ryaha..." laughed Alpha. When he woke up... "Wh-where...?" inquired Alpha. "The hospital," said Ned Spade. "Who...?" "Ah, let me introduce myself. I am one of the island's few doctors and surgeons, Ned Spade." "What...?" "There was a ruckus about a fight in the outskirts. So we ran to see what was going on... only to find you out cold." "We...?" "Ah, my apologies. Is this your subordinate? We two have met as children; we've become quite friendly with each other." As the longest dialogue of the Cresceluna Arc ended, Kazar walked into the room. He asked if Alpha was okay—unfortunately he was not. "I've seen," said Ned, "That you've defeated Kuro. I noticed this was the criminal you sought to arrest; thus I have turned him in. And I'd like to say you've done so much for our sake. So...may I...join your unit? I would very much like to help those in need of medical aid, and furthermore sharpen my skills." "Uh..." hesitated Alpha, "Sure! It'd be great to have a doctor aboard!!" With the plot resolved and arc nearly finished, Ned Spade joined the unit as the doctor. Together, the three Marines headed off to the next island, Nekros. "WAIT!!!" yelled the three, "We don't have a ship to sail on!!!" Thankfully for the Marines, reinforcement had arrived. It was Smoker's unit of the Marines. Alpha and the two approached the ship, to which Smoker showed his surprise and regards. A bit of dialogue, which, frankly, I didn't want to write, occurred before the three were escorted to a room. The communications room. Through a Den Den Mushi, Alpha called Vice Admiral Nitro. "Vice Admiral, sir!!" saluted Alpha. "Ah, Alpha!" said Nitro, "Have you gotten new recruits?" "Yes, sir!!" "I congratulate you for achieving two great tasks—one, arresting Marimo II, Bromine Halogen, Iodine, and Kuro; two, recruiting some members. Now..." Not so surprisingly, Alpha recieved a promotion. Awesome. Captain Alpha, with Lieutenant Commanders Kazarashi and Ned Spade. Together, Captains Alpha and Smoker, sailed off into the distant horizon... Category:AlphaDbeta Category:Stories Category:The Triple D